ALL horses ran fast past trees so it's difficult to gauge the depth of Midnight Meeting's ability but he must be held in so much esteem in the Godolphin yard of Saeed bin Suroor that he carries an entry in the Great Voltigeur and St Leger.

Saturday night's sortie at Salisbury resembled little more than a training exercise.

On paper the Dubawi colt had a facile task in the ten furlong maiden - and so it proved as he decisively quickened away from his only serious market rival to enhance his reputation.

But jockey Hayley Turner issued a note of caution.

"It was a weak race," she stressed . "He's a nice horse, improving and learning. I didn't have to get serious with him and he stayed on well. He has a good attitude."

If Midnight Meeting is a horse with a future, then Biotic was one with a past - or it seemed.

He had forgotten how to win. The seven-year-old is a horse who relishes firm ground and coming off a fast pace. On the debit side he enjoys running through others to make a challenge, hardly a straightforward task when faced by just six rivals in the one mile amateur riders race.

However he adopted an uncharacteristic Great Garbo approach when delivered on the stand rails to advance his rehabilitation with his third win of the season.

"He lost his confidence last year," jockey Patrick Millman explained. "When he kept on getting beaten, it became a bit of a habit so we mixed things up, doing different things with him, but now he has got it back and I was always confident I would pick the leaders up."

Salisbury like virtually every other track has been devoid of rain for several weeks and although 38 millimetres of water had been put on the parched ground, there were six non-runners to add to the depleted card.

However one trainer had no thought of withdrawing his one entry - especially when he was more than hopeful of the outcome in the juvenile race.

"He is very sound," remarked Paul Cole of Walkman who once more demonstrated his inexperience with a sluggish start and the first off the bridle, was giving last place up to no-one with just over a furlong to run. But he then came with a storming late run to nail the six furlong event.

"He was very green on his debut at Ascot and got a little behind here but I always thought I would win a maiden with him and win here."

Jockey Raul Da Silva, gaining only his second win at the track, concurred: "He's just a big baby and lost ground at the start but ran on well. He will come on for that and will be better over seven."

Princely drifted ominously in the betting in the six furlong maiden in light of a 12 month absence but his performance reflected his name.

Minor issues with his feet had kept the three-year-old off the track but he has been kept ticking over nicely at home.

"We have tried to bring him back slowly," said Tom Ward, Richard Hannon's assistant. "He has done a nice bit of work in the last two weeks and there's plenty of improvement in him. He's still not sure what all this is about."